Greetings from Northern California aka Nor/Cal

[infowarrior]

The aluminum frame on my 25 year old mtb is way too bent to install my subaru engine, and staton chain drive on. i was wondering if you ever bought a bike from bikesdirect.com, or sportymama.com; and if their great deal claims were true? Are bikes with aluminum frames good to motorize?

 

[Happy Valley]

Hello and welcome.

I believe if you use the search function you'll get some feedback on bikesdirect.
I haven't dealt with them so I can't offer personal testimony but my take is they are similar to a number of dealers you'll find on ebay. At their low end they all are selling bikes from the same three factories in Taiwan just with different badges on them. Not saying they're bad, probably better than Walmart or Target, but budget minded.

Too bad your old bike isn't serviceable, they don't make them like they used to.
As to aluminum, you'll get different opinions but I'm cautious with aluminum at the low end.